Introducing Lulu

If I were to take a poll and ask everyone we know if we should add a dog to our crazy house, I suspect that the majority opinion would be something along the lines of, “Heck no” or “Enough is enough” or “Why? Because you need more insanity?”

It turns out, in answer to that last question, we do need more insanity. More crazy to go with our crazy.

So to that end – world, meet Lulu.

We rescued her on Saturday from LaMancha Rescue near us. They, in turn, had rescued her from a kill shelter in Kentucky. She’s 18 months old, some kind of chihuahua mix, and is fully grown at about 15 pounds.

Here’s the thing about a dog. On the surface, owning a dog doesn’t make sense.

They confine you to your home. Gone is the idea of just spontaneously taking off for the day without planning for who will care for the dog in your absence.

They are expensive. Adoption fees, trips to the vet, medicine costs, supplies – dogs aren’t cheap. Gone is a large chunk of your expendable income.

They are one more thing that needs care. Dogs always need to go out, even in the cold and rain and snow. They always need to be fed. They need to be taught or trained or redirected. They need regular shows of affection. Gone is a large part of your time and energy.

They can be messy. They chew stuff and have accidents and get sick on your carpet. Gone are the days of having nice flooring and nice belongings and nice furniture.

Dogs take up a lot of our lives and our resources and our time, for sure. Owning a dog doesn’t make sense.

But here’s the thing about life: some of the best things in it don’t make sense.

In my 41 years, I have found that the things that are the greatest treasures or best memories are the ones that most of the world would have said, “Don’t do it. It doesn’t make sense.”

It didn’t make sense to move to Florida, so far from our home, so soon after we got married. But we did it anyway. And now we can say that that decade brought some of our very favorite memories with friends who became our family.

It didn’t make sense to adopt once, let alone twice. But we did it anyway. And now we can say that our family is completed by these two little people from the other side of the world that we love every bit as much as the ones who are biologically ours, and they brighten every single day.

It didn’t make sense to adopt a dog right now, not so soon after our adoption of Titus was completed, when we’re still figuring out our family dynamic and his needs. But we did it anyway. And we are all in love with her.

And this is what I can say about Lulu’s adoption. It’s been three days since she joined our family. In those three days, she has managed to make herself an integral and indispensable part of our family.

She is so very patient with all of the kids, no matter how much they’re in her face.

She’s tiny. Considering that our other dogs were 65 and 100 pounds, she’s tiny and that’s taking some getting used to.

She is a snuggler. Her favorite place is a lap or a warm blanket or a lap with a warm blanket.

She’s 18 months old, so she’s young, but past the “puppy that chews on everything and pees everywhere” phase.

So far, she has been a dream dog, one for which we are already immensely grateful. Because for all of the ways that dogs don’t make sense, consider all the ways that they do.

They give love whenever you need it.

They love you no matter what kind of a person you have been that day.

They are always so excited to see you.

They want nothing more than to love on you and make you happy.

And really, we can all use that extra dose of love in our lives. In the last three days, I have caught each of the kids loving her and kissing her and petting her and soaking up her sweetness while she sits patiently in their laps or in front of them on the floor. Tim and I have been the recipient of her love and her warmth as she makes herself at home on our couch and on our laps – and, in Tim’s case, on his chest right up next to his chin. We all missed having a dog in our lives.

Nope, dogs don’t make sense. But neither does not having one, when you think about it. So welcome to our home, Lulu. We are so very glad you’re here.